Abstract
Longitudinal data were used to examine the relationship of psychosocial unconventionality—rejection of societal norms and a propensity to engage in nonconforming behavior—to early initiation of sexual intercourse in an urban sample of 1,330 White, Hispanic, and African-American male and female middle-school and high-school students. Measures of unconventionality were taken from the social-psychological framework of Problem Behavior Theory. Analysis of variance and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis were used to test the linkage of these measures to earlier initiation of intercourse. The model fit the data well for White and Hispanic youths; greater prior unconventionality was associated longitudinally with earlier transition to nonvirginity. The model was less appropriate for African-American adolescents. Reasons for these group differences are discussed.
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Costa, F. M., Jessor, R., Donovan, J. E., & Fortenberry, J. D. (1995). Early initiation of sexual intercourse: The influence of psychosocial unconventionality. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5(1), 93–121.
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Notes
- 1.
A test of the equality of the covariance structure matrices in the two groups, based on nine representative variables, resulted in a goodness of fit index of .997, indicating a high degree of similarity between the two matrices. Although the associated chi-square statistic for lack of fit was 79.8 with 36 degrees of freedom, which is significant, this chi-square was small considering the sample sizes and the number of variables involved and indicates no serious degree of difference in the covariance structures for the four-wave participants versus the non-four-wave participants. In other words, the pattern and magnitude of relationships among the predictor variables were essentially equivalent in the two groups.
- 2.
For reference, a table of unadjusted means, standard deviations, and ranges on the measures used in this paper is presented in the Appendix for the following three groups: four-wave participants used in the analyses; four-wave participants omitted from analyses due to incomplete, inconsistent, or untrustworthy responses to questions about sexual behavior; and Wave-1 participants lost to subsequent attrition.
- 3.
The levels of sexual experience reported in this sample are comparable to levels based on national sample data (Centers for Disease Control, 1992) collected in 1990. For example, in the 1990 national sample, 53% of 10th-grade boys and 43% of 10th-grade girls (Whites, Hispanics, and African Americans combined) in the United States reported having had intercourse, compared with 53% and 46% of the Wave-2 (1990) 10th-grade boys and girls, respectively, in the present sample.
- 4.
Grade in school, rather than chronological age, was used as a control because of our interest in the contemporary heterosocial situation that grade membership represents. When the analyses reported in Tables 16.2, 16.3, 16.4, and 16.5 were replicated using age instead of grade as a control, results were essentially identical.
- 5.
In order to test whether there were significant differences in the predictive model across the three racial/ethnic groups, a Cox regression analysis was run for the combined group of White, Hispanic, and African-American youths. Three consecutive blocks of variables were entered into the prediction model: first, sociodemographic control measures, including two dummy variables measuring race/ethnicity (White/non-White and Hispanic/non-Hispanic); second, the full set of 12 unconventionality measures; third, the interactions of each of the race/ethnicity measures with each of the other control measures and with each of the measures of unconventionality.
Results indicate a significant main effect of race/ethnicity in Step 1 of the analysis, but no significant improvement to the model at Step 3 when the set of interaction terms was entered. Although White adolescents are less likely to make an early transition to nonvirginity than non-White adolescents, the relationship of the control and unconventionality measures with time of transition is not statistically different for the three racial/ethnic groups.
- 6.
This composite measure was computed by adding the standardized scores of the 12 measures of unconventionality: independence-achievement value discrepancy, expectation for achievement, tolerance of deviance, parent-friends incompatibility, parent-friends influence, parental disapproval-approval of problem behavior, friends as models for problem behavior, deviant behavior, problem drinking, marijuana involvement, school performance, and family activities. Scores were standardized separately for Whites, Hispanics, and African Americans. For respondents missing scores on two or fewer of the 12 measures, the missing values were replaced with the mean of the remaining scores.
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Acknowledgments
This research was carried out as part of a larger project supported by the William T. Grant Foundation Grant 88119488 to Richard Jessor.
We appreciate the cooperation and support of the central school administration, in particular its director of research, and of the school principals and assistant principals. We thank Jani Little, Jill Van Den Bos, and Mark Turbin for their contributions to this research. The comments of Margaret Ensminger, Barbara Morse, Anne Weiher, and Jane Menken on earlier drafts of this paper were very helpful. The paper also benefitted from the thoughtful reviews of four anonymous referees.
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Appendix
Appendix
Means and Standard Deviations on Measures of Unconventionality and Sociodemographic Characteristics for Study Participants, Subjects Omitted from Analyses, and Subjects Lost to Attrition
Measures | Four-Wave Participants Used in Analysesa | Four-Wave Participants Omitted from Analysesbd | Participants Lost to Attritionc | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | M | SD | Range | |
Independence-achievement value discrepancy | 9.29 | 2.11 | 1–17 | 9.23 | 2.08 | 4–15 | 9.50 | 2.29 | 2–17 |
Expectation for achievement | 7.36 | 2.53 | 4–12 | 7.63 | 2.53 | 4–12 | 8.25 | 2.54 | 4–12 |
Tolerance of deviance | 17.18 | 6.10 | 10–40 | 19.11 | 6.96 | 10–40 | 18.94 | 6.82 | 10–40 |
Parent-friends incompatibility | 5.10 | 1.62 | 3–9 | 5.21 | 1.58 | 3–9 | 5.11 | 1.62 | 3–9 |
Parent-friends influence | 4.95 | 1.45 | 3–9 | 4.95 | 1.50 | 3–9 | 5.04 | 1.53 | 3–9 |
Parental disapproval/approval of problem behavior | 2.69 | 0.92 | 2–6 | 2.71 | 1.07 | 2–6 | 2.81 | 1.02 | 2–6 |
Friends models for problem behavior | 5.04 | 1.86 | 3–11 | 5.02 | 1.92 | 3–12 | 5.77 | 2.06 | 3–12 |
Deviant behavior | 16.19 | 6.68 | 10–50 | 17.10 | 7.69 | 10–50 | 18.99 | 8.33 | 10–50 |
Problem drinking | 4.41 | 3.08 | 3–23 | 4.32 | 3.20 | 3–24 | 5.92 | 4.62 | 3–24 |
Marijuana involvement | 1.69 | 2.16 | 0–8 | 1.57 | 1.80 | 0–8 | 2.76 | 2.72 | 0–8 |
School performance | 2.72 | 0.82 | 0–4 | 2.48 | 0.75 | 0.6–3.9 | 2.08 | 0.87 | 0–4 |
Family activities | 3.40 | 1.42 | 1–6 | 3.40 | 1.42 | 1–6 | 3.30 | 1.52 | 1–6 |
Grade in school | 7.99 | 0.81 | 7–9 | 7.81 | 0.80 | 7–9 | 8.04 | 0.82 | 7–9 |
Socioeconomic status | 5.02 | 1.85 | 1–8.3 | 4.74 | 1.84 | 1–8.3 | 4.37 | 1.73 | 1–8.3 |
Family composition | 1.45 | 0.50 | 1–2 | 1.40 | 0.49 | 1–2 | 1.26 | 0.44 | 1–2 |
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Costa, F.M., Jessor, R., Donovan, J.E., Fortenberry, J.D. (2017). Understanding Early Initiation of Sexual Intercourse in Adolescence. In: Problem Behavior Theory and Adolescent Health . Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51349-2_16
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